What are the Child Safe Standards? 

Child Safe Standard 1 – Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued

This is a new standard that requires schools to make sure Aboriginal children and young people feel safe.

This guidance applies to all schools, even if there are no students who have identified themselves as Aboriginal.

The term ‘Aboriginal’ includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is important to be respectful of how individual children, students, their families and community refer to themselves, and use appropriate language.

Cultural safety includes being provided with a safe, nurturing and positive environment where Aboriginal children:

• feel comfortable being themselves
• feel comfortable expressing their culture, including their spiritual and belief systems
• are supported by carers who respect their Aboriginality and encourage their sense of self and identity.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must encourage and actively support a child or student’s ability to express their culture and enjoy their cultural rights in the following ways:

• equip staff, students, volunteers and the school community to acknowledge and appreciate the strengths of Aboriginal culture and understand its importance to the wellbeing and safety of Aboriginal children and students
• adopt measures to ensure racism is identified, confronted and not tolerated
• address any instances of racism within the school environment with appropriate consequences
• actively support participation and inclusion in the school by Aboriginal children, students and their families
• ensure school policies, procedures, systems and processes together create a culturally safe and inclusive environment and meet the needs of Aboriginal children, students and their families
• develop and endorse a policy or statement detailing the strategies and actions the school will take.

Child Safe Standard 2 – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture

This standard emphasises the vital role that school leaders and governing authorities have in establishing:

• a culture where child abuse and harm is not tolerated
• effective systems and processes to implement child safe policies and practices and manage child abuse risks.

Schools must take deliberate steps to promote child safety and wellbeing and protect children by

• embedding and promoting a child safety culture at all levels of the organisation
• school leaders actively modelling such a culture
• ensuring transparent governance arrangements.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• develop, endorse and make publicly available a:
• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• Child Safety Code of Conduct
• develop, record, and implement risk management actions to make sure children are safe in the school environment
• monitor, annually review and evaluate child safety and wellbeing risks
• develop a policy or statement detailing the school's processes to meet Public Record Office Victoria Recordkeeping Standards (PDF, 653KB)
• ensure records relevant to child safety and wellbeing are created, maintained and disposed of by Public Record Office Victoria Recordkeeping Standards
• make sure school staff and volunteers understand their obligations in information sharing and recordkeeping.

Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously

This standard supports schools to create a culture that values and promotes student participation. This includes:

• informing students about their rights and responsibilities in an age-appropriate way
• recognising the importance of friendships and peer support
• enabling students to actively participate in creating a culture that is safe for them and their peers.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• inform students about all their rights, including their rights to safety, information and participation
• recognise the importance of friendships and encourage support from peers, to help students feel safe and be less isolated
• make sure staff and volunteers:
• are attuned to signs of harm
• facilitate child-friendly ways for students to express their views, participate in decision-making and raise their concerns
• to develop a culture that encourages participation and responds to what students say
• give students opportunities to participate, and respond to their contributions to strengthen confidence and engagement
• offer students access to sexual abuse prevention programs and related information in an age-appropriate way. School boarding premises are required to offer sexual abuse prevention programs and related information where it is relevant to the setting or context
• develop curriculum planning documents or other documentation that details how the school will address these requirements.

Child Safe Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.

This standard highlights the importance of an open and transparent child safe culture for families and communities.

Schools must provide families and communities with accessible information about their child safe policies and practices and involve them in their approach to child safety and wellbeing.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• make sure families participate in child safety and wellbeing decisions which affect their child
• engage and openly communicate with families and the school community about its child safe approach
• make child safety information accessible
• involve families and the school community in developing and reviewing child safety and wellbeing policies and practices
• inform families and carers about the school’s governance and approach to child safety and wellbeing, including roles and responsibilities of school staff.

Child Safe Standard 5 – Equity is upheld, and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

This standard focuses on creating environments where all children and young people feel welcome.

Equity is a state of fairness in which all children and young people can participate freely and equally in areas of life, regardless of their background, characteristics or beliefs. This means their safety is not dependent on their socio-economic, family or personal circumstances.

As part of this standard, schools must:

• recognise and respond to students’ diverse circumstances
• understand that some students are at higher risk of harm than others
• provide easy access to information
• adjust procedures to respond to different needs
• make sure complaints processes are child-friendly, culturally safe and easy to understand.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• develop and endorse a policy statement or curriculum document that details the strategies and actions it will take to uphold diversity and equity, that:
  • students with disability
  • students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • students who are unable to live at home
  • international students
  • lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) students
  • Aboriginal students and provides and promotes a culturally safe environment for them.
• makes sure school staff and volunteers understand the diverse circumstances of students, and how to provide support, and respond to vulnerable students
• gives students, staff, volunteers and the school community access to information, support and complaints processes in ways that are culturally safe, accessible and easy to understand
• pays particular attention to the needs of:

Child Safe Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice

This standard focuses on ensuring that people who work with children and young people are suitable and supported to act in a child safe way. Schools should make child safety and wellbeing a key consideration when recruiting staff and volunteers.

As part of this standard, schools must:

• develop robust procedures to ensure only suitable people work with children
• supervise staff and volunteers to ensure they prioritise the safety of children
• support staff and volunteers to understand their responsibilities.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• make sure job advertisements have clear statements about:
• the job’s requirements, duties and responsibilities regarding child safety and wellbeing
• the job occupant’s essential or relevant qualifications, experience and attributes in relation to child safety and wellbeing.
• advise job applicants about the child safety practices of the school, including the Code of Conduct
• make volunteers aware of the school’s Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Child Safety Code of Conduct
• screen school staff applicants:
• sight, verify and record a Working with Children clearance if they person is required to have one or any equivalent background checks such as Victorian Institute of Teaching registration
• collect and record proof of identify, qualifications, history of working with children and references
• screen volunteers:
• sight, verify and record a Working with Children clearance if they person is required to have one of any equivalent background check
• consider the child safety risks relevant to the volunteer’s role and, if reasonable and appropriate collect and record proof of identify, qualifications, history of working with children and references
• provide an induction to staff, volunteers and contractors engaged in child-related work, regarding child safety and wellbeing that is appropriate to the nature of the role
• ensure that induction addresses the school’s:
• the Child Safety Code of Conduct
• the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• procedures for managing complaints and concerns related to child abuse
• make sure staff, governing body members, and volunteers engaged in child-connected work, are aware of their responsibilities for:
• children and students
• information sharing and reporting obligations
• recordkeeping obligations
• provide supervision and people management of staff and volunteers that focuses on child safety and wellbeing.

Child Safe Standard 7 – Processes for complaints and concerns are child-focused

This standard focuses on ensuring that schools have complaints processes that are child-focused, culturally safe and accessible to everyone.

Schools must have policies, procedures and practices to

• have a complaints handling process focused on students and their safety needs
• take complaints and concerns seriously
• respond promptly and thoroughly
• identify and respond to all forms of child abuse
• report child abuse to relevant authorities, whether or not there is a legal obligation to report it.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must ensure they have:

• a complaints handling policy which:
• is publicly available and accessible
• is child-focused
• is culturally safe and easily understood by the school community
• has information about the process for making a complaint about the school or any person within the school
• requires that complaints are taken seriously and responded to promptly and thoroughly.
• procedures for responding to complaints or concerns relating to child abuse that is:
• publicly available and accessible
• child-focused
• culturally safe and easily understood by the school community
• ensures complaints are taken seriously and responded to promptly and thoroughly
• covers all forms of child abuse
• sensitive to the characteristics of the school community
• able to address reporting of complaints and concerns to relevant authorities, whether or not the law requires reporting, and cooperate with law enforcement
• able to provide details of recordkeeping, reporting, privacy and employment law obligations to be met when responding to complaints and concerns

Child Safe Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

This standard focuses on building child safety knowledge, skills and awareness in staff, volunteers and school governing authorities.

All schools should deliver training to new and existing staff and volunteers. The training must be tailored to the needs of the school and the role the person performs at the school.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• Provide child safety training to staff engaged in child-connected work every year. This training should include:
• the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and the Child Safety Code of Conduct
• the procedures for responding to complaints and concerns about child abuse
• guidance on recognising indicators of child harm, including harm caused by other children and students
• guidance on responding effectively to issues of child safety and wellbeing and supporting colleagues who disclose harm
• guidance on how to build culturally safe environments for children and students
• guidance on their information sharing and recordkeeping obligations
• guidance on how to identify and mitigate child safety and wellbeing risks in the school environment without compromising a child or student’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities.
• Provide training and information to volunteers engaged in child-connected work that is appropriate to their role that will equip them with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe.
• Support staff and volunteers to implement the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and the Child Safety Code of Conduct where these policies apply to their role and responsibilities.
• Provide appropriate training and guidance to the members of the governing body every year. This training should include:
• individual and collective obligations and responsibilities for implementing the Child Safe Standards and managing the risk of child abuse
• child safety and wellbeing risks in the school
• the child safety policies, procedures and practices of the school.

Child Safe Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.

This standard focuses on child safety and wellbeing in physical and online environments and ensuring that procurement also reflects child safety.

Schools need to have policies and strategies:

• for identifying and responding to risk and reducing or removing the risk of harm
• for online conduct and online safety
• ensuring that procurement policies for facilities and services ensure the safety of children and students

Schools must analyse and understand potential risks to students. It is important to think about risks created by school structure and culture, activities and physical and online environments.

Online technologies are constantly changing which presents significant challenges for schools, parents and carers. Online behaviour needs to be addressed in the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Codes of Conduct to promote child safety.

Arrangements with external agencies also create child safety risks. They create opportunities for unknown people to have contact with students.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• make sure child safety and wellbeing policies, procedures and practices enable school staff and volunteers to identify and mitigate risks without compromising a student’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities.
• develop and endorse a policy or statement on online conduct and online safety.
• develop procurement policies for facilities and services from third parties that ensure the safety of students.

Child Safe Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.

This standard focuses on continuous improvement in child-safe policies, procedures and practices.

Schools must:

• regularly review and evaluate policies and strategies
• analyse child safety incident data
• share review findings with the school community.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• review and evaluate their child safety and wellbeing policies, procedures and practices after any significant child safety incident, or at least every 2 years and improve where applicable
• analyse complaints, concerns and safety incidents to identify causes and systemic failures and to inform continuous improvement
• report on the outcomes of relevant reviews to staff, volunteers, the community, families and students.

Child Safe Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people

This standard focuses on incorporating the 11 Child Safe Standards into school policies, procedures and practices, which work together to create a child-safe culture.

Schools should ensure these policies and procedures are:

• informed by community consultations so they are relevant to the school
• accessible to all
• informed by best practice
• championed by leaders
• well understood by those they apply to
• implemented effectively.

Actions schools must take

To comply with this standard, at minimum, schools must:

• implement practices for a child-safe environment
• establish policies and procedures that meet all the Child Safe Standards
• make sure all relevant school staff, governing body and volunteers understand and implement the policies and procedures
• champion and model the policies and procedures for a child-safe environment
• document their policies and procedures and make them easy to understand
• make sure their policies and procedures are informed by best practice models and stakeholder consultation.